So I did it. I deleted facebook. It was really very un-monumentous and was fairly depressing to realise how many people I am acquainted with that I don't spend anytime with or even think about very often. In general I could pretty much write off most of the people as lovely, but not close enough to warrant caring about 131 photos of their trip to Las Vegas (consisting of pictures of them drinking different coloured drinks and then, wait for it, the drinks BY THEMSELVES!). It's not that I am not very happy for my brothers best mates wife's sister who has just found out she's pregnant, it's more that it feels strange knowing details first hand when I have met the woman ONCE!
So I am no longer on the facebook bandwagon, and to my absolute lack of shock no one really cares, which gets me thinking, how much we think about others, and I'm not talking about the whole lets save each other and be good caring people but rather, more selfishly, how this is a thought worth remembering.
How many times I have not done something for fear that someone would look on it badly and now I realise they probably wouldn't have given a damn. Which is quite refreshing when you think about it. Thats not to say that the day I fell face first on the treadmill a lot of people (90% of the gym) didn't stop and look, but rather that laughing at me probably wasn't the highlight of their day (and if it was that's probably more their problem then my own...).
There is something nice in realising how insignificant you are in the world, makes it easier to get on with things and just bob along. Since realising this fact, I've been testing it using my new toy twitter. It's fun to direct comments to people and then never hear a response, in fact the best thing is to make a comment and then leave it for a few days and then delete it. It only illustrates how little influence we have on anybody else's world and it's even better when someone inadvertedly replies, seems to have a little bit more meaning somehow. Kind of like when you ask a question in a crowded conversation and you think no one's heard and then someone leans over to answer it.

So blah blah blah, that is all I have to say really, that and to apologise for my ranty-mc rant rant previous blog. Oh and also to announce the swim in the baths challenge, where by I have to swim in the baths, preferably in winter in the morning. No brain, no pain, so I should be fine......

Human Folly

I am always astounded that when something goes wrong, there is a large amount of people who automatically assess how it effects them and what they can gain from it as a result. Recently on a trip back from Sydney to see a concert, there was a fatality on the line, which meant that the train was held up for quite sometime. It was an interesting situation to be caught in, as all of a sudden people’s priorities became vocalised and really quite clear. The three sixteen-year-old girls with over manicured hair, falling down pants and lack of an ability to manoeuvre words into any coherent sentence all started to draw attention themselves. “Oh my god, I can’t even believe how late we’re going to be! I don’t wanna see any like dead shit” which was then followed by numerous phone calls to parents and friends to say “Yeah we’s been held up cos like there was some dude and he jumped in front of the train and now we’re like stopped” This was of course I imagine followed by the parental party asking why they were on said train and the fantastic answer of “we’s got bored so we wents to Hornsby shopping centre and was headin’ back and now it’s stopped” The accident becoming a comfortable cover up for their obvious  misdemanours.

Then there was the couple who were also incredulous to this ever happening “This has never happened to me before! It’ just doesn’t seem right. I mean how are we gonna get home in time. This is so fricken stupid.” Wow, what a lot of insight that young lady possessed. Her conversation later turned into a very detailed description of “the train driver comes round and says to us that this guy has jumped right in front of the train and hes dead and now were stopped for questioning” which I was fascinated with because I had missed this conversation with the driver somewhere between her seat behind me and my own and had only heard “please remain patient, there has been a fatality and this train will be evacuated in due course once the authorities arrive.”

Then there was the brilliant man who called his work and explained that he had witnessed a crime scene and couldn’t  possibly come into work tomorrow. Now this was pure genius as there was an accident and then there technically he had witnessed the track that had been the scene of the crime . Only a man of particular skill could have worked that story out so quickly and I have to admit to being generally quite impressed!

The amazing way that everyone’s thoughts went to being stuck, being late, having to wait and being hungry FASCINATED me! Someone had just chosen to end their life, you would think they could be a bit more considerate, I mean really peek time on a Sunday, tsk, tsk, tsk.  Next time, he should plan it for maybe 1.30 am on a Monday morning, because then no one would b inconvenienced, so mr Jumpee, next time…oh hold on…..There is no next time because you only have one life and yours has so sadly JUST ENDED!  I wanted to scream you miserable people, what the hell is your problem?! Have some bloody respect! Someone has just died and the poor dude driving the train has had to watch it happen! But instead I sat there and tried to concentrate on my breathing. Why couldn’t I just say what I had going through my head? At what point did we stop pulling each other up on being basically ridiculous human beings and just let it become a culture? This attitude was worn loud and proud for 3 hours whilst the situation was sorted at which point I found a friend of mine to discuss the amazement that is human society. And two days on I'm still amazed that not one person, including me, had the guts to standup and say something.... really makes you wonder doesn't it...or does it?

Challenge #2 - Update #1

I am now officially on my first day of my second challenge to delete facebook and so am trying to slowly but confidently detach myself. I posted my blog url so that hopefully will mean people contact me because I feel like a bit of a moron doing the old "I am deleting my facebook so take my details because I am oh so so important!" I've also been going through my "friends" list and realised that I speak to a total of about 13 of the people on the list! Isn't that absurd! And whats more, I actually DISLIKE over half of them! How did this little world become so frightening that all of a sudden I have to pretend that I actually care how many of these people do well in "texas hold em" application...news flash: I DONT! 

I have also already met with the unavoidable annoying question of "yeah, but why are you doing it? you can just downsize it can't you? make it really private?", in response, yes, yes I could do this, but then I could just as easy not have one at all and achieve the same end.

I realise this is a very rant like update but in daylight I have actually begun to hate facebook, more than just find it a waste of time. There are some really mean aspects to it all....which I will update in full over the coming posts if only to strengthen my own resolve :)

Face-off with Facebook - Challenge #2

Challenge number two has been a tough one. I have had a few in the pipeline but for whatever reason I have had to drop back and will do these at a later date. The last challenge was to test my fear and I think it did just that... although the write up did leave a lot to be desired, so apologies for that one.  So for this fortnight's challenge i am assigning something that i should have done quite some time ago but have been putting it off and putting it off because I am a lazy lazy young lady! 

For a bit of a back story, I signed myself up for a facebook account when I was about 20 and it was to keep in contact with close friends and to post pics and do the whole community thing. I had all the security protocols and what not and it all seemed dandy. After a little while though, things started changing. Less people exchanging news, and more people ranking friends and doing "which miley cyrus song am I?" quizzes. Then there were the "Become a fan of 'people against beating small children and women on trams' group" which was so rightly examined by my good friend Dr Q who countered this argument with his own "People in support of not getting shot in the face with a crossbow group". But mostly it just became fairly half hearted on my behalf. Then my friend who I will warmly refer to as Earl Grey informed me that everything I wrote on there was the property of Facebook. Which lets admit it, is a fairly horrifying thought. I started thinking about all the dodgy "I've had too much to drink" photos that I have in existence and it was rather a frightening thought that they would be posted and tagged to my name. So after some serious thought I have decided to bite the bullet and be independant and DELETE MY FACEBOOK! Shock horror for anyone of my generation. I did mention it to a few close friends and the general feeling was "why would you do that?" "How will I know what your doing?" to which I counter, I have a blog, I tweet and I own a phone! If you cant find me, you aint trying! So I challenge not only myself to this, but also my close friends to remember me even if I'm not commenting on facebook.

Now I know that the whole deleting facebook probably seems pretty lame to some people, but for me, facebook is fairly addictive! You can see into other people's life and monitor them! Which is that horrible addictive nosy parker streak I have's dream come true and also a reason to get rid of it (the next step will be to stop gossiping entirely but lets just start with baby steps!) So I am breaking  four year trend and will have to learn to live without it. The rules are these:

I have two weeks to:

 1. Remove all important info from facebook.

 2. Notify close friends of twitter account, email, blog and (god forbid) phone number and NOT make a big deal about it.

 3. Finally disable my account. 

 I am aiming to track my progress with this challenge this time, so hopefully I will update and you can all have a laugh as I rid myself of the facebook addiction....I wonder if there is rehab for this....